Fantasy Football Week 6: DFS starts, fades and undervalued options

Whether you've played Daily Fantasy on Yahoo before or are giving it a try for the first time, this weekly column will take a look at the DFS landscape, revealing whom I like building lineups around, stars to fade, undervalued plays and bargain bin options to help you construct a better team.

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Lineup building blocks

Cooper Kupp ($28) vs. Arizona Cardinals

Kupp immediately returned to a full-time role last week and should remain a target hog even with Puka Nacau’s emergence. Matthew Stafford is due for major touchdown regression, and the Rams have the second-highest implied team total on the DFS slate. Kupp has an argument as fantasy’s No. 1 WR when healthy, but this week’s salary doesn’t reflect that. He gets a shaky Arizona secondary that gave up a ton of wide-open targets last week.

DJ Moore ($24) vs. Minnesota Vikings

It’s typically best not to chase last week’s stats in DFS, but Moore remains affordable and gets another terrific setup. Chicago is thin at running back due to injury and faces a Vikings secondary allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to receivers. While Moore has been a bit lucky scoring (he’s already recorded the second-most TDs of his career) while not ranking top-30 in red-zone targets on the season, he’s a healthy top-15 in air yards share. It also helps that Justin Fields is attempting nearly 10 more passes per game this season compared to last. Moore has a whopping 50% first-read target share over the last two games and should continue his monster season Sunday.

Raheem Mostert ($27) vs. Carolina Panthers

Mostert is set for extra work Sunday with De’Von Achane on IR with a knee injury. The Dolphins are huge favorites and have the highest implied team total this week. Carolina is a run-funnel defense allowing the most EPA/rush and the second-most fantasy points to running backs. Miami’s offense has looked historically explosive (getting 2.0 yards per play more than the next best team), and the run game has benefited greatly. Mostert is a top-five RB option on the DFS slate.

Star to Fade

Kirk Cousins ($35) @ Chicago Bears

Cousins is off to a surprisingly strong fantasy start, but he’s the highest-salaried quarterback on the main slate this week despite missing Justin Jefferson. The Vikings have a favorable matchup, but the loss of Jefferson is huge to the offense. There are better ways to use your DFS money than Cousins playing outdoors in a matchup with a 44.5 over/under and without his best target.

Undervalued Options

Calvin Ridley ($17) vs. Indianapolis Colts

Ridley has had an up-and-down first season in Jacksonville, including leading the league in near touchdowns. But he’s coming off a strong performance in London and gets a highly favorable matchup this week. Zay Jones reinjured his knee and has been ruled out, and the Colts have allowed the sixth-fewest fantasy points to the slot, where Christian Kirk has run 74% of his routes this season. Meanwhile, Indy has yielded the most fantasy points in the league over the last month to Ridley’s primary side. The Colts also play Cover 3 at a high rate, which is good news for Trevor Lawrence and Ridley historically.

Alvin Kamara ($22) @ Houston Texans

Kamara has seen 50 opportunities over two games since returning and is one of only four backs to have a 40% opportunity share this season. He plays indoors this week against a Texans defense allowing the seventh-most fantasy points to running backs after a couple of tougher matchups during his first two games back. Kamara looks like the center of New Orleans’ offense, but doesn’t have a top-10 RB salary this week.

Logan Thomas ($15) @ Atlanta Falcons

Thomas saw 11 targets last week, leading all tight ends in fantasy usage. He benefitted from a game script that saw Washington call no run plays over the final 2.5 quarters, and the Commanders should be pass-heavy once again Sunday. Atlanta has a pass-funnel defense that has completely shut down the run. And the Falcons have been especially vulnerable to tight ends, allowing the second-most fantasy points to the position. Cole Turner was No. 1 in fantasy usage a couple of weeks back when Thomas was out, so the Commanders are using their tight ends heavily.

Bargain Bin

Sam Howell ($23) @ Atlanta Falcons

If you remove Howell’s dud against the Bills (who’ve allowed the fewest fantasy points to QBs), his 20.9 fantasy points per game would rank fourth among quarterbacks this season, behind only Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields. Howell is taking far too many sacks (drive killers), but he also has more rushing upside than he’s shown so far in the NFL. He gets a matchup indoors this week against a pass-funnel Falcons D allowing the third-fewest fantasy points to running backs but ranks 29th in pass defense DVOA. It’s a good enough setup for the near DFS minimum.